1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a chair of the kind that is preferably shipped disassembled in a compact shipping package to be assembled by the end user without the use of tools. User actuated height and tilt control paddles, which enable the position of the seat and back of the chair to be adjusted by a user of the chair relative to the chair base, are removably attached to and removable from either the bottom of the seat or the arms of the chair to enable the disassembled chair to be more efficiently packaged and consume less space.
2. Background Art
Large pieces of furniture, such as chairs and sofas, are typically shipped from a location of manufacture to a location of sale and finally to the public for use. The large and bulky nature of this furniture contributes to the purchase price paid by consumers. That is to say, as a consequence of its space-consuming size, relatively large shipping vessels are required to move the furniture from place to place. Moreover, relatively large storage facilities are necessary to accommodate the furniture while in transit from location-to-location. To overcome this problem, some articles of furniture (e.g., chairs) have been shipped disassembled in a space efficient container so that the final assembly can be completed by the end user.
One type of chair that has been shipped in a disassembled configuration is that having one or more user actuated controllers (sometimes referred to as paddles) which are operated by a user of the chair to cause the seat of the chair to be elevated and/or to tilt back to enhance the comfort of the user. Such controllers are fixedly connected to the chair to be within easy reach of and accessible to the user. The accessible location of such controllers has caused them to extend outwardly from the parts of the chair to which the controllers are connected. In this case, the space consumed by the controllers has made it difficult for the controllers along with the parts of the chair to which the controllers are connected to be efficiently packaged in a compact shipping container. Consequently, the size of the ship pine containers must be increased to accommodate the controllers which correspondingly increases the shipping cost which was intended to be reduced by virtue of packaging and shipping the chair in its disassembled configuration.
Accordingly, what would now be desirable is a means by which to ship the chair described above disassembled and without having to use a relatively large shipping container to accommodate the controllers which extend from parts of the chair.